Before & After: How a Raw Shell Became a Cozy 168㎡ Family Home — Designed for Real Life, Not Templates

Before & After | Raw Shell to Cozy Family Home｜Design Tailored for Real Life
Project Specs: 197㎡ Gross / 168㎡ Internal
Good interior design is never about rigid templates — it’s about building a space that truly fits how people live. This 168㎡ upgraded family home is a one-year collaborative renovation, polished iteratively by our team and the homeowner.
I love working with clients who have clear life visions. This homeowner refused fleeting trends and had one core goal: a home that balances stunning aesthetics with full practicality — beautiful to look at, and effortless to live in.
We tailored the entire layout around her daily habits. As she enjoys relaxing and working from bed, we maximized the master bedroom, stripped away redundant decor, and created a calm, private retreat for rest and bedside remote work.
The living & dining area is the heart of this project. We ditched the outdated single-purpose TV room design and crafted an open horizontal hall, fully optimized for long daily family occupancy.
This multi-functional core space adapts to every life scene: daily meals, casual chats, quiet downtime, home office, kids’ play and small friend gatherings. It’s no longer a decorative display space — it exists for real, everyday life.
The custom home library is our key design highlight. Acting as the central hub of the house, it integrates reading, leisure and storage, with a hidden 3.5㎡ utility room. It solves family storage troubles perfectly, without ruining the unified mid-century modern vibe.
Our team took charge of spatial restructuring, layout optimization and precise structural detailing. Meanwhile, the homeowner deeply participated in every key decision — from inspiration referencing, material & color selection, vintage decor and soft furnishing to household traffic line planning.
This renovation was never a simple handover. We tested ideas, revised plans, and refined every detail side by side. It’s a two-way effort to create a dream home.
From empty bare shell to a warm, livable sanctuary, this one-year journey is more than a renovation — it’s a custom exploration of better family living.
These before-and-after shots tell the whole story. I truly believe: A great home is never built overnight. It’s carefully designed and slowly polished to match the owner’s unique lifestyle.